


Unplanned

by mogwai_do



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: F/M, Genderswap, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 21:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/931499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mogwai_do/pseuds/mogwai_do
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a meme prompt that I have long since lost: Martin accidentally impregnates fem Douglas</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unplanned

Oh god.

This wasn't supposed to be happening. She was too old for this. For God's sake, she'd thought her missed periods were the fucking menopause - at least until she'd spent the last week chucking up in the bathroom every morning and thanking her lucky stars they were on stand-by. She'd thought she was past all that. She sat heavily on the edge of the bathtub, the positive pregnancy test dangling loosely from her fingers as her other hand slowly crept up to her mouth. Sharp teeth bit into her knuckles but no, she was definitely not dreaming.

And it was a dream, kind of, but it was one she'd long ago given up on, burned to ashes in the wake of her third divorce. The tiny part of her that had always wanted another child, had withered and died in the wake of Henry's infidelity (the bastard). Who knew its resurrection would hurt just as much.

At least this wasn't like the time after her second divorce: there was only one possible father the world over and she wasn't sure if that made it better or worse. It wasn't even a real ...thing she had with Martin. The bizarre, sometimes overwhelming mix of pity and pride and affection and frustration that had led to their first night together in the wake of St Petersburg had faded, but their... occasional nights hadn't. If she were forced to admit it, and she would do so only to herself, she had been lonely and they'd turned out to be surprisingly compatible in bed. Surely it wasn't so bad to have sex with someone because you were both lonely, as long as you both knew that's what it was. She was pretty sure Martin knew that's what it was anyway. Mostly. And now they'd definitely never be lonely again. Fuck.

She took a deep breath, and another, and by the third she could revisit the idea without that strange, high-pitched noise escaping her throat. 

It had to have been those cheap Russian condoms: the first one had split and they'd chucked it, but the second must have had a hole in it too that they'd not noticed. Her eyes fell to the test again. 

She was pregnant; she could think it now, admit it; it must be starting to sink in. She was too old to be pregnant; God, she'd be retiring before the child even got to university. Assuming everything went well with the pregnancy - and that was something she wanted to think about even less. 

What if she couldn't carry it to term? What if it ended up with Down's or something equally awful, those probabilities went up the older the mother, didn’t they? What if, what if, what if... She bit back on the sudden torrent of fears and carefully placed the test on the edge of the sink, her eyes never leaving the display, the alternative was even more unthinkable. She was a Richardson; she could and would do this and she'd do it better this time. Let it never be said that she didn't learn from her mistakes. 

There would be no screaming bloody murder at a custody hearing when the judge maintained that she couldn't be a ‘proper’ mother and keep the globetrotting job that she'd worked so damned hard to get. There would be no fourth divorce because she was perfectly happy living in sin, thank you very much. In fact, she _was_ perfectly happy, how strange that it hadn't occurred to her until now. Between her barely adequate salary, matching wits with Carolyn (and customs officials the world over), Arthur's idolization, and Martin's... whatever it was that Martin brought; (she liked to think she had a pretty good grasp on Martin's character - it was just… hard to quantify) she was actually more content than she'd ever been at Air England, having to perpetually prove herself to idiots half her intellectual weight.

She'd have to take maternity leave whether Carolyn liked it or not and she knew Martin would never be able to afford child support, but that was actually fine. She had the money to do this on her own if need be; who knew the rainy day she'd saved for would have such a rainbow. Martin would probably balk at being paid to babysit his own child, but she was sure she could talk him into some kind of mutually beneficial lodging arrangement. What Martin did have however was determination, tenacity and frankly a lot of pig-headed stubbornness. He would do right by their child if it drove her up the wall and / or killed him and _that_ she realised was what she wanted more than anything - someone who would be there for their child whatever the cost, regardless and maybe even despite of her. She took a deep breath and stood up; now all she had to do was tell him.


End file.
